Common Sense Trading - A Blue Jeans Approach to Philippine Stock Market Trading

The Philippine Stock Exchange took a few nose dives over the past months and spooked many people. I blame it all the doomsdayer's talk about the U.S. economy. Now that all that grim news has been squeezed out, people are welcoming the opinion that the worst is over. Is it? well I haven't really had the chance to find out for myself. As far as the Philippines is concerned I think that we will follow the U.S. up if they do go up because I subscribe to the assumption that they're the only reason why we went down in the first place. Things here are going way to well for our market to keep plummeting. A very reputable columnist, Ron Nathan of the inquirer doesn't seem to have made up his mind about it either but had this to say last sunday: "Well, it's back to work tomorrow. BERNANKE has done everything expected of him. He cut the interbank rate, released $200 billion into the system, cut 75 basis points and gave JP Morgan $30 billion to bail out BEAR BULL. We can o

I was once told that any person entering stocks should be ready to leave their money alone for at least ten years. I understood that to mean that they would not really have to, but if they wanted to see real gains without too much risk exposure, time will be one of the main investments. Being relatively new to trading stocks, I make it a point to play it safe by following on simple rule above all else. 1. Buy only stock from companies that are likely to grow over the long term. However, if that's all i do, it's an extremely boring thing to do. I wanted to have fun while doing this so in addition, I tried this strategy without breaking the first rule: 2. Buy stocks that I think will rise significantly in the short term and sell quickly after they reach my target. This made it more fun. Nice and challenging. Short term trading with a safety net. Its an inherently limited strategy but it keeps things safe for a newbie like me.

I don't like it when I have little time to check up on the stock market. I have been having my final exams at my Law School over the past weeks. My time is monopolized as if by a jealous mistress. While I have made a hobby out of trading stocks, I think that following the movements of the stock market on a daily basis, is one of the keys to successfully investing in the stock market. It is a fickle entity, yet patterns emerge over time. If we are to learn the patterns, we have to be around to see them as they unfold.